AETIFICIAL HATCHING OF SPAWN. 69 



its empty case behind, and darts up to the surface of 

 the water in its glad joy at being released from its 

 prison, and then sinks slowly down again on the 

 gravel prone upon its side. Helpless innocent, what 

 a nice morsel now for a hungry trout ! and what 

 havoc a monster of six ounces would make among a 

 hundred or two of them ! Perhaps, after getting its 

 head out, it finds a difficulty in releasing the tail, 

 which is curled round the umbilical bladder within ; 

 again and again it tries fruitlessly, resting between 

 each convulsion to concentrate its force for the next 

 effort. Take pity upon it ; place your camel-hair 

 brush softly and caressingly upon it. See ; there — it 

 is out. May you catch it, in return for your kind 

 offices, when it is a twenty-pounder. 



At first the work of hatching goes slowly on ; and 

 these early-hatched fish are seldom strong specimens, 

 very many of them paying the penalty of their pre- 

 mature appearance ; l but as the days go on, they 

 increase in number, and soon a day arrives, as in 

 " the rise " of the May-fly, when Nature bends all her 

 energies to the work, and out they come by hundreds 

 and thousands ; every hour, nay, every minute, adds 



i The bladder should run hack almost to a point behind in 

 healthy young salmon; when it is rounded too much the fish 

 seldom does well. 



